Aged Whiskey
by coolconnor95
Summary: Rumple hardly ever goes to the bar to drink. Yet this day, he needed to get away from the quiet of his own house. The last thing he expected was to find Killian at the bar as well, and for similar reasons as his own. (Written for the Variety in OUAT forum's July 2019 month. Pro Rumple and Pro Killian. Oneshot.)


**Summary: Rumple hardly ever goes to the bar to drink. Yet this day, he needed to get away from the quiet of his own house. The last thing he expected was to find Killian at the bar as well, and for similar reasons as his own.**

**More Details: Rated k+ for talk of death (in general but heart attacks specifically) and drinking alcohol. Written for the Variety in OUAT forum's July 2019 month. Pro Rumple and Pro Killian. Oneshot.**

**Other Characters: No one else is in this. There are mentions of Emma, Belle, Ruby, Granny, and Doc. Also mentions of Captain Swan and Rumbelle.**

**Check the end of the work for more notes.**

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Rumple didn't often go to the Rabbit Hole. He preferred to drink his fine, expensive whiskey in the privacy of his own home, alone, where people couldn't judge him. And yet, here he was today, siting at the bar and sipping on his drink. His eyes were on the game of pool a few other patrons were playing nearby. That was the reason he was here instead of at home; distraction. The house had been so quiet that he could hear the clock on the wall, ticking away. It counted every second of time that passed. But here, at the bar, loud voices and music drown out all thoughts of the passage of time.

As he took another sip, he felt someone sit down beside him. "My usual, bartender," the other man spoke. Rumple suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.

"What brings you here, pirate?" he questioned. Killian and Rumple were trying to get along now. Killian and Belle were allies now. It was time to put the hundreds of years of feuding behind them. But Rumple still didn't like the man, and he'd assumed Killian didn't like him either. Had Belle put him up to this? But she hadn't been home when he'd headed for the bar. She wouldn't know he was here.

"I assume the same thing that brought you here, Dark One," Killian mused, nodding his thanks to the bartender as the man returned with some rum. The pirate took a large sip of the drink, sighing contentedly afterward.

"And what on earth makes you think you know why I'm here?" Rumple sneered. "You're a lot of things, but last I checked, you're not a mind-reader."

Killian looked over at him, and the two men finally looked into each other's eyes. "I was just at the hospital. Belle was there. Figure she would have told you about that."

Rumple's shock only showed on his face for a split second. So, the pirate wasn't as clueless as he'd originally thought. Rumple looked down at his drink, just so he didn't have to meet Killian's gaze. He was sure the pirate would be gloating now. "How is she?"

"Granny's fine. Doc says she'll make a full recovery," Killian insisted. "Ruby should be fine too. Still shaken up she almost lost her grandma to a heart attack, but she's got a good friend to comfort her."

Belle always had been a good friend to Ruby. Rumple had urged her to go and help her friend after she heard of the grandmother's heart attack, but that had left him alone, in the big house, thinking about topics he'd rather not dwell on … he took another sip, accidentally doing so at the same time as the pirate.

He looked up, only then noticing that Killian seemed just as bothered as he did. "You really do know why I'm here, don't you," he questioned, trying to just sound curious, but his words came out a bit hostile.

"Aye, I think so." Both men fell silent for a bit. Even if they both suspected they had the same reason for being here, it was hard to voice out loud.

Someone won the pool game. A few people cheered while the other players demanded a rematch. It was only after the noise settled down that Killian attempted to speak again.

"Old age. That's what Doc said was putting her at risk for the heart attacks. Old age. And it's hard not to think about how we were born before she was, isn't it?" Killian had lived on Neverland for so long. Rumple had taken on a curse. Neither man should, by any rights, be alive, and yet here they were, sitting at a table in a dim bar, outliving the average lifespan by hundreds of years.

"You know," the pirate continued, when Gold didn't answer, "I often regretted hiding on Neverland. Not just because of Pan. I didn't want to live this long. For a while revenge sustained me … and I'm not proud of that part of my life, but now I've met Emma. And, perhaps that makes it worth it." Living as long as they had, both men had seen a lot of painful things. They'd caused a lot of pain as well, sometimes even hurting each other. But Killian liked to think that something had made it worth it …

"And I met Belle," Gold whispered, but his voice was less hopeful than Killian's. He stared at his drink, his gloomy mood growing, instead of dissipating from the alcohol like he'd hoped. "That part you don't understand, pirate."

"I understand love! My love for Emma is just as strong as yours is for Belle," Killian protested, only for Gold to hold up his hand.

The Dark One shook his head, looking Killian in the eyes. "Not what I meant pirate. You'll live out the rest of your days with Emma. You'll grow old together. You may have lived far too long, but you'll get to age now."

"And you won't," Killian said, realization slowly appearing onto his face as he studied his former enemy. "You're still cursed …"

Rumple nodded. "Did you ever wonder, what it would be like to know, for certain, that you would live long after the love of your life was dead?"

Rumple took a large gulp of the whiskey, slamming his tumbler onto the table. The ice cubes rattled together, but other then that, the tumbler was empty.

Killian stared at him, nodding slightly. "That … would be a difficult thing to think about."

The Dark One smirked, but he looked pained as well. It was a dark sort of humor he found in his fate. He'd taken on the curse to save his family, and now he was going to outlive them all by centuries.

"You may understand what it's like to live a long time, Jones, but you won't have to know what it's like to outlive Emma by centuries. Be grateful for that."

A silence fell over the two again. It somehow felt wrong to discuss this right now. Someone had almost died … and yet that was exactly what caused these thoughts to surface. Sometimes death could be such a sad thing, and other times, death was a release, and a relief. Granny's death would have been the former. Everyone loved her and she certainly wasn't ready to go. Killian smiled slightly as he remembered how frustrated Doc had seemed while trying to keep the old woman off her feet. She'd been wanting to go back to work already …

But Rumple? He didn't want to outlive Belle. And what about his curse? Surely that made life dark and grim. How long had a part of him wished to no longer be living? He could have tempted someone to kill him with the dagger, but he'd stayed alive and cursed, first for Bae, and then for Belle. But how much pain did it cause him to force through like that? Killian knew he'd be ready to die when he and Emma grew old, but Rumple was right. The Dark One wouldn't get the same chance the pirate had.

"You know, I've read the lad's book. True love's kiss is supposed to break your curse mate. And if not that? Don't you always say that all curses can be broken?"

Rumple looked up at the pirate, a shocked and slightly guarded expression on his face. "This one can't," he insisted, a sneer creeping into his voice.

"You sure mate? I think you should look into it. For your sake. And ours," he added when Rumple's look was starting to soften. It felt almost wrong to let their rivalry down for too long, even if they weren't trying to kill each other anymore. "No Dark One would be nice. Make things easier for Emma I'm sure."

Rumple scoffed, taking another sip of his drink as he thought. The pirate was right, wasn't he? It would be nice to die with Belle instead of live on, fighting the dark curse indefinitely …

He stood abruptly, grabbing his cane, which had been leaning against the bar. He put some money on the counter to pay for his drink, before turning to Killian and bowing his head slightly. That was the closest to a thank you he felt like giving.

"I should do some research, I believe. You are right about one thing pirate, all curses can be broken." He turned to go, feeling Killian's eyes on him.

"Good luck," the pirate called. Rumple could barely hear him over the jukebox blasting a song that was far too cheerful.

Rumple's slight pause was the only response, but soon he was limping out the door.

Immortality was not as easy as people assumed. It was taxing. It had started to weigh heavily on Rumple, but if he could follow the pirate's advice and find a way to break his curse, then maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't have to watch everyone he'd ever cared about die. Maybe he could find some peace in death, one day. All he had to do now was break his curse. It would be hard, but with Belle's help, he was sure he could do it, one day.

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**Author's Note: Hope you guys enjoyed this little oneshot of Rumple and Killian bonding over both being really old. It was written for the forum** **Variety in OUAT, because this month, July 2019, is focusing on older characters. I wanted to explore how Rumple and Killian felt about being older than would be physically possible without magic.**

**Further Reading: Did you like this story and are looking for anything similar? If it was the Rumple elements you enjoyed, then you might enjoy my story, The Beauty of Love. In that oneshot, Rumple and Belle are trying to get rid of the Dark Curse for good. If you are curious, go check it out!**


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